Congas and bongos

Until beginning of the decade of the percussion instruments had been used marginally by the bateristas, but from this date the scale of percussion instruments that was getting in the recording studies began to extend so much that gave place to a new type of musician – the percusionista – specializing in this type of instruments. Most of the percussion instruments used in the jazz were coming originally from Latin America (keys, güiro, cabasa, maracas, congas, bongos, kettledrums, pandeiro, etc. . . ), but progressively there began to do appearance different instruments proceeding from the India, from the Tibet, from China, from Japan, from Bali or of africa.

The father of the percussion in the jazz was the Cuban Chano Pozo, who in had already introduced instruments of Afro-Cuban percussion in the recordings of the band of Dizzy Gillespie, playing with it an important role in the establishment of the this way called cubop, a style mixes of bop with elements percusivos Afro-Cuban that is provided between its most famous topics with emblematic qualifications like Fat or Afro Cubano Suite.
The percusionista Machito painted the portrait.
Between the first Cuban percusionistas that arose after the Well stela there stood out Jack Costanzo, Carlos Vidal or Machito, three musicians who touched in the big band of Stan Kenton; Tito Puente, who began to develop its career on the western coast; the congueros Armando Peraza, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barreto, Candid and Sabu Martinez; the kettledrummer Willie Bobo; or the bongueros Willie Rodriguez and Cal Tjader, the last one also vibrafonista. At the beginning of the decade of there arose the sauce, a “new” genre that was fusing the traditional music of Cuba with elements of the blues and of the rock and that was headed so much by Cuban artists as by others proceeding from Puerto Rico and, in less measurement, of the Dominican Republic. The epicenter of the new music was located in New York and Miami, two cities with an important built-up area of Cuban origin, and of between the different bands and groups that there arose there is necessary to stand out Fania All Stars, a supergroup led by Johnny Pacheco with whom there collaborated figures as important as Ray Barreto, Mongo Santamaria or the trombonista and governing musical Willie Columbus. Finally, between the mergers to which there gave place the “sauce”, a generic term that groups in fact very diverse styles, it is necessary to emphasize the Latin rock popularized by the Mexican Carlos Santana, or the boogaloo, a mambo miscellany, rock’n’roll, jazz and blues.

The traditional rhythms of Brazil are for softer, Berendt more flexible and less aggressive than the Cuban, and its confluence with the jazz gave place to the bossa it nongoes, a music popularized by Stan Getz y Charlie Byrd that was defined by the Brazilian musicians like “cool jazz more samba”. In spite of the successes that the new musician was harvesting in Brazil, the penetration of the Brazilian rhythms the American stages had to wait till the end of the decade of, when Airto Moreira took part in the recording of Bitches Brew, of Thousands Davis. Since then, many groups and established musicians used percusionistas Brazilians, as it was the case of Chick Corea, Weather Report or Dizzy Gillespie, who were provided with the musicians’ collaboration like Dom Um Romao, Paulinho Da Coast, Guilherme Franco and Nana Vasconcelos, in addition to the proper one Airto.

Art Blakey had already initiated the exploration of the African rhythms in its Orgy in Rhythm, a disc that had its continuation in The African Beat, with the participation of diverse musicians in charge of the execution of African instruments. Max Roach formed similar groups, but the first fame percusionista in the world of the jazz was in fact the Nigerian Olatunji, who collaborated with John Coltrane, Clark Terry or Yusef Lateef. Already in the decade of artists as Kahil Zahbar, Don Moye, James Mtume, Ralph McDonald or the Haitian bateristas Ti-Roro and Ti-Marcel they were doing its appearance in the scene, formalizing a tendency that Blakey had initiated more than one decade behind. Between the percusionistas proceeding from the Asian continent it is necessary to indicate to the hindues Zakir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu and Badal Roy, or the Turk Okay Temiz. Finally, between the modern percusionistas that are capable of touching a large number of different instruments proceeding from different cultures Kenneth Nash are, Sue Evans, Halburian, Bill Summers and David Moss Arm.